D-Day veteran remembers how the heartbreaking sight of horses being killed ‘stuck with him’ ahead of 75th anniversary commemorations
HAVING watched his friends die during a training exercise six weeks earlier, Albert Price was one of the first men on to Gold Beach.
At 18 years of age, he had been part of Operation Smash, the largest live-ammunition practice of World War Two.
It was supposed to herald the success of the new DD Valentine tanks which could “sail” on the sea then drive on land. But instead of a successful preparation for D-Day, five tanks sank and six men perished.
Albert, 93, who now lives in Solihull, West Mids, says: “I managed to get out when my tank started to go down but other men weren’t so lucky. We knew we had to do it again in Normandy so we put it behind us and focused on the task in hand.”
Albert had joined the 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards in 1942 and he says of June 6, 1944: “When we set off I think all of us felt very proud, but none of us knew we’d be taking part in something that would go down in history.”
After landing, Albert’s unit happened upon an enemy building in the distance and groups of retreating soldiers.
“There were lots of German infantry marching away,” he recalls. “I remember how archaic their columns looked – there were no tanks or armoured vehicles.
“There were horses pulling things and what looked like furniture vans. We fired upon them and while I didn’t care about the German loss of life, the horses being killed really stuck with me.” But Albert’s D-Day ended after a skirmish with the 12th Panzer division on day two.
When we set off I think all of us felt very proud, but none of us knew we’d be taking part in something that would go down in history.
Albert Price
He says: “I had my head on the tank telescope. I heard a loud blast and someone shouting, ‘We’ve been hit’. It was like a sheet of red came across my entire face.”
With blood pouring from a head wound sustained from the telescope, Albert fled out of the tank.
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He says: “There was machine gun fire all around us. I was shot in my left foot and a ricochet hit my right shoulder.
“A fire was raging so I backed away as best I could. I was still trying to move when a black figure walked past me.
“I barely recognised him as our driver because he was burned so badly.”
Albert was eventually rescued and taken back to an aid station.
He says: “My tags said I was Catholic even though I wasn’t and the padre came and gave me my last rites as I waited evacuation.”
After the war, Albert lived in Canada for 11 years. He returned to Britain and worked in insurance.
Recalling a return to Normandy, he said: “I found the graves of the men I served with but I prefer to remember them as the men they were, not the men buried there.”
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